Inspired U.S. squad defeats Hungary again

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U.S. water polo goalie Merrill Moses, shown here against Hungary on Sunday at Newport Harbor, made eight blocks Thursday night to help lead the Americans past the three-time Olympic champions, 9-5, at UCLA.

LOS ANGELES – U.S. goalie Merrill Moses had a message for his teammates before the start of the fourth period against Hungary on Thursday night.

“Make it hurt,” the excitable Moses yelled in the huddle.

The U.S. men’s water polo team wanted to make a point against the three-time defending Olympic champion, and it did just that.

The Americans handled Hungary, 9-5, at UCLA for their second victory in five days against the European powerhouse.

For an American team that before Sunday had not beaten Hungary since 2002, it was again a splashy victory. Hungary defeated Team USA, 14-10, in the gold-medal game at the Beijing Games, but the Hungarians didn’t lead once in 64 minutes in this two-match, Southern California series.

“Make them remember us. Let’s embarrass them,” said Moses, who anchored the U.S. defense with eight saves. “Ever since that gold-medal game, I’ve been dying to play them. Every chance we get to play them, we’re going to step it to them.”

The Americans and Hungary will meet in Group B play at the London Olympics.

Moses experienced a scare early in the second period when he jammed his left middle finger while reaching to make a save.

“I’ve had it much worse,” said Moses, one of several returning Olympians on the U.S. team. “It will be fine.”

Team USA again produced a potent power-play attack. The Americans converted their first three chances with the extra attacker to take a 3-0 lead in the first period.

Captain Tony Azevedo netted two of the strikes and finished with a team-high three goals.

The U.S. squad also got power-play strikes from Brian Alexander (Foothill) in the first, John Mann (Corona del Mar) in the second and Peter Hudnut coming out of a timeout in the fourth to finish 5 for 8.

For the second consecutive game, Hungary struggled on the power-play, going 2 for 8. Moses made some excellent saves but there were times Hungary played sloppily.

“(This victory) says right now we’re in a good place, but Hungary tends to peak pretty well at the Olympic Games,” U.S. coach Terry Schroeder said. “They’re going to be a different team in the Olympic Games.”

The U.S. squad offered its own wrinkle Thursday. After scoring no goals from center against Hungary on Sunday, the Americans got 2-meter strikes from JW Krumpholz (Foothill) and Mann.

Team USA played three centers in the match, a rotation led by starter Ryan Bailey (UC Irvine).

“It’s different having three (centers) in there,” Mann said. “It all depends on what the coaches want to do as far as the Olympics.”

Schroeder added, “It’s nice to see those younger guys stepping in and scoring some balls. There’s going be some tough choices coming up, for sure. We’ll probably only take two centers (on the Olympic roster).”

Krumpholz returned from a 2 1/2-week layoff after suffering a concussion. He suffered the concussion after accidently being hit on a shot in warm-ups.

“Today, I felt great,” Krumpholz said. “These two games are great confidence builders for us and also it shows us what we need to work on as a team and how we can get better before the Olympic Games, because those are the only games that matter.”

Dan Albano has been a high school sports writer at The Orange County Register since 1993. He covers football and all the aquatics: boys and girls water polo and boys and girls swimming. Dan's passion for water sports has earned him the nickname, Aqua Dan, in the newsroom and taken him to multiple U.S. Olympic Swim Trials and many USA water polo events as a reporter. He also writes about high school football recruiting, including The Register's annual FAB 15 teams that list the top high school football players in the Western U.S. before National Signing Day. He compiles the Hot 150 list of football players to watch in Orange County before each season. During football season, he also partners with Steve Fryer and Jonathan Khamis on OCVarsity.com's Gridiron Show and hosts a weekly podcast on Trinity League football. In 2015, Dan received the Bud Dwyer Jr. media award from the Southern California High School Football Coaches Association. Dan is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton, where he worked at The Daily Titan as a news reporter, sports reporter, managing editor and opinion editor.